Canadian Stage to Present the Canadian Premiere of THE LEHMAN TRILOGY in November

In November, Canadian Stage will present the Canadian Premiere of 5-time Tony winner THE LEHMAN TRILOGY.  An epic theatrical event, written by Italian novelist and playwright Stefano Massini and adapted by Ben Power, this centrepiece production will be directed by Canadian theatre powerhouse, Philip Akin. On stage at the Bluma Appel Theatre, THE LEHMAN TRILOGY runs November 14-26. (Media night: November 16)
 
The story of a family and a company that changed the world, THE LEHMAN TRILOGY stars an eminent trio of Canadian theatre veterans - Ben Carlson, Jordan Pettle, and Graeme Somerville - as the Lehman brothers, their sons, and grandsons in this extraordinary feat of storytelling, told in three parts on a single evening. The story begins on a cold September morning in 1844, with a young man from Bavaria standing on a New York dockside dreaming of a new life in the new world. He is joined by his two brothers, and an American epic begins. 163 years later, the firm they establish - Lehman Brothers - spectacularly collapses into bankruptcy, triggering the largest financial crisis in history.

“THE LEHMAN TRILOGY is a theatrical masterwork about one of the most fundamental and truly existential issues of our time – it is the story of the underpinnings of capitalism itself,” says Canadian Stage Artistic Director Brendan Healy. “In this moment in which we are experiencing the problems inherent in these financial and political systems at their most extreme, this show offers deep insight into how we got here and finds the human story underlying these dehumanizing systems – this is a truly essential contemporary play.  With Philip Akin at the helm of this epic work, leading three of the strongest stage actors in Canada, this promises to be a legacy production for our company.”
 
While the Lehman family is historically known for the bank that bore their name, in their early years in America they traded with southern slave plantations for cotton, then in war ammunition and tobacco.  While exposing the ties and tensions between these three brothers and the choices made across decades that changed human history, THE LEHMAN TRILOGY also demonstrates how, from the very beginning, the brothers' entrepreneurship was often fused with exploitation.
 
THE LEHMAN TRILOGY premiered in Europe just five years after the eponymous bank's collapse and then arrived at London's National Theatre a decade following the financial earthquake of 2008, in a storied production directed by Sam Mendes.  Mendes' National Theatre production eventually transferred to Broadway in 2020 (resuming in 2021 after a pandemic pause) and went on to win 5 Tony Awards in 2022 including Best Play, Best Director, and Best Actor. 
 
Joining Akin on the creative team for the production are set designer Camellia Koo, costume designer Dana Osborne, lighting designer Steve Lucas, sound designer Miquelon Rodriguez, movement director Alexis Milligan, and assistant director Jordan Laffrenier.
 
Tickets for THE LEHMAN TRILOGY range from $36-$120. Single tickets are now available at canadianstage.com. This production runs from November 14 - 26, 2023, with performances at 8:00pm Tuesday – Sunday, 2:00pm matinees on Saturday and Sundays, and a 1:00pm matinee on November 22nd.
 
For more information and tickets visit www.canadianstage.com.

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